I’m really liking these Monday morning rapid fire question-and-answer sessions – are you? At some point, I’ll get back to the musings, but as long as you keep sending in great questions, I’ll probably keep answering them. We’ve got four this week: vinegar and its effect on insulin levels, sugar and DNA damage, the nutritional merits of lactose-free milk, and whether Miracle Noodles are Primal. So let’s get started.
Dear Mark
I have read that apparently cider vinegar influences/ reduces insulin level after a high carb meal. I was wondering what Grock’s view on this point is?
Thank you for looking into this & your time.
Viktoria

Apple cider vinegar does display some interesting benefits for diabetics. In one study, ten type 2 diabetics, eleven insulin resistant non-diabetics, and eight insulin sensitive non-diabetics were given 20 grams of apple cider vinegar (or a placebo) two minutes prior to a bagel, butter, and orange juice meal. […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

 
I recently started running for the first time in years since my knee injury. I haven’t been timing myself since I’m just letting my body get used to it, but I can feel that I’m getting faster and closer to my past speed. That being said, I don’t think I ever did the mile in under 6 minutes – something that I definitely want to do. Here are some things I’ve picked up while trying to increase my speed on how to get faster at running:

The Importance of Being “Light on Your Feet”
When it comes to how to get faster at running, you’re going to want to be “light on your feet”. You want to have a very limited time where your feet are touching the ground as you run. It’s a feeling where you’re not running on the ground, but actually flying through the air as you […]

Original post by rafael@thefitnessadviser.com (Rafi Bar-Lev)

Making fresh sausage at home can be a bit intimidating at first glance. How does one go about grinding the meat? What makes it taste like sausage and not just ground meat? And how in the heck do you shape it into links? After all those questions about homemade sausage run through your mind, inevitably you’re going to ask yourself, “Why bother?”
The reason is simple – if you make your own sausage you know exactly what’s going into it. Instead of buying sausage made of mystery meat, sugar, and preservative and coloring additives you can choose the meat, add any spices or fresh herbs that you wish and skip all that other junk. Suddenly, sausage is no longer a questionable choice of protein, it’s a healthy, flavorful part of your Primal eating plan.

Besides that, you might even find that you enjoy the process of making sausage. There is something really […]

Original post by Worker Bee

Fasting is back in the news again!
Here are just two of the titles that have been sent to me via email over the last week:
“Routine Periodic Fasting Is Good for Your Health, and Your Heart, Study Suggests”
and
“Study: Periodic fasting good for health, heart”
So what’s going on?
Well the mainstream media has caught on to Dr. Ben Horne’s latest research.
Now, Dr. Horne is a friend of ‘Eat Stop Eat’ and we’ve exchanged emails, so I think it’s worth while to really examine his latest findings.
Firstly, Dr. Horne’s work is on 24 hour fasts, once or twice a week, almost exactly the Eat Stop Eat protocol (add in some weight training and it would have been perfect) so it is VERY relevant to us.
Secondly, it’s not just Dr. Horne – He’s among more than a dozen doctors with Intermountain Medical Center’s Heart Institute who discovered the most recent round of physiological benefits from […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint success story. Many thanks to Albert for sharing his inspirational account of how he grabbed control of his health and lost nearly 100 pounds at an early age.
If you have your own success story you would like to share with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thanks for reading!

–
Hey Mark,
All my life I had been a “chubby” boy, was happy, had friends and all but I knew something wasn’t right when I couldn’t run a set of stairs or catching the bus was a complete struggle…. I always had an emotional relationship with food and whenever I felt depressed or down I would reach for coke, chocolate, ice cream…..you get the picture.
One cold Monday morning […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

 
In Men in Black, Will Smith’s character is running after an alien. He seems to have unlimited stamina, and not only can he run, but he seems to be able to climb, jump stairs, and pull his bodyweight with total ease continually in a short period of time. He never tires (until the plot demands it), and even gets inducted into a secret alien watching organization because of his endurance alone.
In I am Legend, we see him exercising by performing countless pull ups. Later on, he singlehandedly wages a war against the super-mutants, and even manages to wrestle one out of a crashing window without showing any signs of fatigue…
What is one thing in common with all of Will Smith’s characters that allows them to keep on going when normal people wouldn’t be able to continue? The answer is simple. Muscular Endurance.

What Muscular Endurance Is, and Why You Need It…

I […]

Original post by rafael@thefitnessadviser.com (Rafi Bar-Lev)

When making the transition into the Primal way of life, a lot of people get tripped up on the question of grass-fed beef. Is it necessary? (No.) Is there really that big a difference between conventional beef and grass-fed beef? (Kinda.) What does grass-fed actually mean? How do conventional cows live and what do they eat – and does that matter enough to me to make the effort to incorporate true grass-fed beef into my diet?
Hopefully, the following article will shed a bit of light on the subject, making it easier for you to make an informed decision based on your preferences, your needs, your budget, your personal ethics, and the objective information provided.

Cow’s Diet
You’d think this would be a simple, single sentence section – grass-fed cows eat grass, grain-fed cows eat grain. Bam. Done, right? Not quite.
For the most part, all cows start on grass. Well, calves drink milk, […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

I imagine most of us have (or have had) animals in our lives – pets at home, livestock on the farm, and so forth. For me, it’s a yellow lab named Buddha. True to his title, he has some calm, composed moments – mostly in the glory of outdoor adventures, but he’s just as much an example of big, slobbery enthusiasm. (Such is the life of a labrador retriever.) He’s been a faithful pal, eager workout companion, and much-needed comic relief more times than I can recall. When I’m in need of time away from society, he gets a special pass to join me. There’s just something different about hanging out with a dog – or most animals, I’d venture to say. There’s more to the human-animal connection, however, than just playing fetch. Throughout human existence, animals have acted as companions, protectors, and workmates. They’ve herded alongside us in the […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Well, this is Rafi Bar-Lev and I’ve got great news for the 5 of you (just joking) that are still reading this despite my long hiatus…I’m back! I’m not going to get into a long explanation about why I was away (one of the reasons was I wanted to get my knee injury at almost 100% before I started working out seriously again…and I hate writing about things unless I’m actually doing them)
– but the fact is that I am more pumped than EVER to help you get in the best shape of your life and yes – the picture to your left is me.
Just to give you a little teaser of some articles to expect in the coming days, here are some really cool things I want to discuss with you:
1. Muscle endurance – why you need it, how to train for it.
2. Do you really need weights?
3. Does working […]

Original post by rafael@thefitnessadviser.com (Rafi Bar-Lev)

The following is a guest post from Esther Gokhale. Healthy posture practitioner extraordinaire, we are honored to have her as a presenter at this year’s PrimalCon. By day, she will lecture on posture and movement, and by night she will give the “Gokhale Method” a spicy twist by presenting a clinic on Samba dancing (she claims Samba is the best way to learn and implement the posture and movement technique principles!). PrimalCon kicks off next week, Friday, April 15, and there are still a few remaining spots, so reserve your spot today and come out for the 3-day weekend retreat of Primal lectures, play and feasting with fellow Grok stars. I hope to see you there!

A dance form originating in Africa, the Brazilian Samba has become a cultural icon for the Latin American country famous for sun, sand, and beautiful physiques. As a posture teacher and founder of the Gokhale […]

Original post by Mark Sisson